Green Mountain Cyclocross Cat 3 Day 2—2009—VT Verge

I did well in day one of VT Verge. 7th place. With the overnight rain, the abundance of rest, my front row call up and my newly acquired and recently demonstrated bike handling skills, I was confident that I would pull down a good result, perhaps even better than I had done on day one.

The course was degraded but rideable. While the moisture made the going slow, the corners remained mostly tacky. I didn’t figure it out until later, but the rain and the course conditions actually put me at a disadvantage, since it really just required power and little bike handling.

I knew that I was screwed 100 meters after the start. Riders were streaming around me, normally slow starter, Cary came around me inside the 1st 200 meters. I watched the lead group ride away on the first climb. There was nothing that I could do. I was tempted to dump it out to get on the group, but I felt flat, blocked, stuffed…

I fell in behind a known poor bike handler from MRC. He won the cat 4 Fitchburg Stage Race in 2008 despite causing a crash in the circuit race and riding sketchily. I was desperate, so I used his wheel on the easy straight sections. Normally, I don’t ride wheels in cross. Soon enough I remembered why, as we entered a greasy corner, I noted that we were going in too hot; I jammed on the brakes while still in the straight and cut tight on the inside while MRC’s wheels slipped out causing him to flail. His foot kicked one of my front spokes. I stayed up and didn’t lose any momentum or time.

Man was I beat. I wasn’t even half way through the first lap and riders were streaming around me. Tim Young passed me like I was standing still. I was about 25th.

I was scraping the bottom and still people were putting the hurt on me. I was getting pissed.

Instead of pushing harder, I eased back. I concentrated on keeping my momentum up in corners and taking good lines. In the long straight sections, I took it easier. While I was frustrated that I was losing time and position, I figured that if I rode smart, I’d take it back later.

In the second lap, I was alone. My slide was over. I felt recovered, so I began putting in efforts again. My slower lap earlier had helped me dial in the corners, so I didn’t really have to think too much about them. The only corner that I really had to lock up for was the seriously greasy and chewed off camber leading into the whoopties/rideup.

The ride up degraded every lap. It became increasingly difficult to ride. Later in the race, I tried riding different parts of it to gain traction. I found that some of the steeper sections still had grass, so riding the steep part made more sense since you could dig in.

I reeled in the Tim Young group and passed them. It was in 3rd or 4th lap. Tim put in an effort and it took me awhile to grow the gap. He had a group of 5 or 6 riders on his wheel, so I really pushed to get away, since I was fighting for 6 places instead of only one.

Wissell was fading. Or was I surging? Either way, I passed him near the end of the second to last lap. At this point, I had tunnel vision. The snot was flying and I could see nothing other than the mud in front of me.

I saw Evan Huff taking the corner into the descent. There was only about 2 minutes of the race left. I concentrated on descending fast and keeping speed through the sweeping, wet off camber corner at the end. I caught Evan on the straight opposite the finish, leading into the barriers. I attacked as hard as I could going into the barriers and got a small gap. I remounted quickly and sprinted.


Evan caught me on the slight rise and attacked. I dumped everything out to catch him in the rutted straights leading to the finishing stretch. I thought that I put in a decisive effort and closed the door as I entered the finishing sprint. Then I heard cheering. I was flagging and Huff was surging. He got me. 13th and 14th respectively.

While I was disappointed that my 2nd day fitness didn’t seem to be there, I am happy with my recovery. I felt lucky that I was able to hold on.

Even better, I will be starting on the front row of Gloucester next weekend. The whole family is coming out to watch, so I expect a piss poor performance next weekend.

MM Racing is Having a Party and You Are Invited--Thursday 10/1/09 7-10 pm

My friends (I am sure that they cringe to see that in print!), Matt Roy and Maureen Bruno Roy are having a party to celebrate the kickoff of what will surely be an incredible cyclocross season.

Last year this was the party to attend. All the cool kids were there. This year promises more of the same. Seriously it was a who's who of New England cyclocross.

As always there will be beer, food and Mo's famous vegan cupcakes. Last year there was a seriously awesome raffle of stuff that you actually will want to put on your bike. Matt says that the raffle will be even more stacked this year.

Skipping this would be a mistake. Don't make a mistake that you will regret for the entire 2009 cross season.

Party is at MM Racing's sponsor, Belmont Wheelworks from 7-10 pm on this coming Thursday (I am too stupid to figure out how to post the flyer's PDF on the blog)

Race Report: Green Mountain Cyclocross Weekend Verge 2008 Cat 3

All photos are courtesy of my lovely wife over at Pedal Power Photography.

Saturday's race saw sunny and warm weather and a dry grassy course. Sunday was misty and damp, with course conditions deteriorating quickly.

I got to the starting line of Saturday's race feeling amped. I was rested and ready. I had a good deep warm up. I was quite nervous since I felt confident that I would earn a respectable result.

I had a lofty goal for the 2009 season: beat my friend Rosey in any fair race (no mishaps or mechanicals). I have never been able best him in any cyclocross race. Every time that I have tried, I have crashed or ended up blown apart and limping in for the last few laps.

Rosey got the hole shot. He was 15 seconds ahead of me within the first 30 seconds of racing. I was in OK position after the first climb and the initial corner. Perhaps 20th. I raced smart and remained within my abilities. I have been finding that it is better for me to burn matches to remain near the front of the race in the first lap, but not to try to lead the race. My new riding cyclocross style is to settle in and reel riders in over the course instead of killing myself to ride top 10 only to detonate and slide back.

Most of my first lap was uneventful. Little shoving and jostling. Almost no words exchanged. I made a few passes. Corey Lowe came blowing by me about midway through the lap. I briefly considered getting on his wheel, since he usually finishes a few places ahead of me, but he was pushing a pace that would have left me destroyed.

There was a slight divot or gutter in the corner leading into the barriers. Going into the barriers I was about 10th. I unclipped and tried to ride into the barriers standing on my pedal. I was coming in too hot and the gutter jostled my bike into a skid; I immediately went down. I was able to get up quickly, run the barriers, and remount as if nothing had happened, but when I remounted, my chain was derailed, which required me to dismount awkwardly and put it back on. I slipped a few places and lost about 30 seconds.

Angered, I rode fast. I passed people in corners while they rode their squealing brakes. The sound of grass ripping accompanied me as I chucked my pedals as I pedalled through sweeping corners.

When I got to the the runup/rideup, my competitor's were running feebly. After mountain biking for the entire summer, I was easily able to ride over the three logs that prevented road cyclists from riding this section. Every time that I crested the top of this climb, I took back a little time on the people ahead of me or further shut the door on the people behind.

The rest of my race was fairly standard. I suffered. I put in efforts to catch riders ahead of me. I wanted to drop out. I prayed for the bell every time that I came through the start finish.

I made it a point to dose my efforts in the parts of the course where it would yield me the most speed. For instance, instead of blowing my wad on the climb leading into the rideup only to scrub all that speed on the off camber 90 degree turn going into it. I eased back a little shifted into the appropriate climbing/clambering gear and put in a huge burst over the logs.

In the last two laps, I reeled in a lots of riders. All through the race, my teammates had been calling out my position on the road to me when I crested the 3 log ride up. Steadily I went from 17th to 15th to 13th to 11th to solidly inside the top ten. I reeled in Rosey. I didn't say anything as I passed him. He looked hurt.





Taking the hole shot often does not pay.

I also reeled in Mike Wissell of Back Bay. At the Hodges Village Dam MTB race this summer, my A race of the mtb season, he put over 5 minutes into me (I rode a good race too!). So passing Wissell was a highlight of Saturday (and Sunday's) race.

I finished 7th. My good friend Cary





podiumed and Rosey hung on for 10th. The wife was on the podium in her race. My 2009 nemesis/friend Sebastien Dumont bested me with a 5th place result.

On another note, cat 3's who finished near the back of the race were prematurely pulled. The Verge organizers have decided to run the junior's race at the same time as the cat 3's, giving the juniors a 2 minute head start. When the juniors were "lapping" slower cat 3's, the officials were pulling the cat 3's so that the juniors could have a "clean" finish. While I don't begrudge the junior's their race, it is unfair to curtail the race of someone who has paid good money to race because they have been caught by another field that started minutes ahead of them.

I know that many cat 3's were quite upset that they were pulled. From a solid source, I heard that these disgruntled riders vented their rage on unrepentant sandbagger, Brian Wilichoski by booing him and yelling insults as he crossed the line in first place.

Furthermore, I caught junior riders all through my race, as did the leaders of my race. I had to negotiate passing them, as did the leaders. The juniors were polite and made room, but nonetheless, they were on the course at the same time that I was. The presence of these juniors could have also interfered with our finish, but no one (me included) would suggest pulling them of the course.

Sorry for my digression. Day one was a success. I felt that I rode well. Obviously, I am upset about my crash and the fact that I lost 30-45 seconds to it, but overall, the race went well and yielded a better result than I would have predicted for myself beforehand.

Check back for photos and a race report from day two.

Race Report: Quad Cross 2009--CB Brought the Pain in Three Events: 3/4 35+, Women's 3/4 and Men's 4

As an intro, Quad Cross (had a different name) 2007 വാസ് my second cyclocross race. I broke my shoulder in a high speed fall in a fast corner. It ruined my season and put me in PT for the entire winter of 2007/2008. I was careful in that corner this year.

Quad Cross is a great little race, local to Boston in Bedford. In fact it is so close that I drove out the evening before the race to preride the course while doing my prerace openers. There had been a steady rain, so the course which features tall grass and became a mud bog last year, had become treacherous. Newly cut damp grass clogged my drivetrain and got caught in my brake pads. The Course felt slow, as there was hay stuck in and wrapped around all the moving parts on my bicycle.

I should mention that Quad did a great job with routing the course. The barriers were challenging offered you the option of remounting before a hairpin or after, which was then followed by a run/rideup. If your game was on, you could easily gap less skilled riders who were more fit than you. The "S" turns were tight, but routed so that line selection was important. If you hit turns properly and connected your turns well, you kept your momentum, if you bobbled or took a bad line, you squandered your speed and had to sprint. There were some off cambers thrown in to unsettle you.

The sun came out for the race. In fact, it was downright hot on the starting line. I only took one preride of the course before my race. Most of the corners were in similar condition as they had been and the run/ride up was still rideable.

I only had aggressive mud tires (Tufo Cubus), so I actually raised the pressure in order to decrease their considerable rolling resistance. I didn't notice any downside.

I shouldered my way into a front row starting position. Shamelessly separating 2 MRC teammates who had left enough room for me to squeeze in. I was lightly heckled, but I brushed it off. I was feeling fit and rested, so I planned on making good use of the front row start.

I got tired of registering for races with a normal team name. So I registered for a bunch of races with "CB/Igleheart Will be bringing the pain" as my team. I didn't think that anyone would even notice. They did. They poked fun. Even Diane Fortini got in on it by raising her eyebrows when it was brought to her attention.

The opening sprint was tame. I held back and went into turn one in 3rd. I moved up in turn 2, which I had practiced 12+ times the day before. Basically, I attacked right after the second corner, as I had taken the inside line and turned on a tighter radius than my competitors, which left me an open course.

As I rode out in front, I realized the folly of my attack. I was burning it hard right there in the beginning of lap one.




I didn't open up a gap right away; 2 or 3 dudes stayed on my wheel for the next half lap. I made sure to punch it extra hard out of the corners to open gaps. If these guys were going to ride my wheel, they were going to have to work hard to stay there. Also, my cornering was at least as good as the guy on my wheel, if not better, so after a turny section, I often had a 2 or 3 second gap, which I enhanced by putting the gas down.

I got away. At one point I had 10 seconds on second place. Even though it was the second lap, I thought that I was gone. I was riding well and not bobbling. My team mates and friends lined the course and enthusiastically cheered, jeered and heckled me as I passed. I even found the energy to heckle Matt Aumiller who was announcing. High Fives were slapped. Foolishness.

Mortals can't just ride away from a field. If I could do that, I'd be pro. Or at least someone would pay my race fees. Or at the very least, I'd have better results than I have been posting for the last year.

I didn't implode, but I definitely crumbled a little. Especially when I saw that we had 4 to go. I knew that I was done then. In fact, I wanted to quit. And vomit. My stomach was in rebellion. In fact it was so imminent that I was drooling and slobbering as my mouth prepared to spew.

My rival from Palmer, Sebastien Dumont of Cape Cod caught me with about 3 to go. I knew it was him even before he came around me. I had been stink-eying him on every straight away as he steadily reeled me in. It was a classic case of going out too hard.

I rode well and hung on for second. Sebastien dangled about 10 seconds up the road. I could have closed the gap, but I felt that if I put in the effort to catch him (or stay with him) that I would overdraw my account, which would cause me to slide out of 2nd and...who knows where I'd land if I detonated entirely.

It was heartbreaking. I made the pragmatic decision not sprint up to him. I don't regret it, but it was a hard decision to live with at the time. Obviously my team mates and friends heckled me mercilessly. I'm sure that the haters had their say too, but I didn't hear them.

In that situation, what would you do? Sprint up to the leader and risk blowing up and losing your second place or settle for second?

In speaking to Sebastien after the race, he explained that I was the only one that he was watching, which I took to be a huge compliment. I genuinely and heartily congratulated him on riding a great race. I have the feeling that Sebastien have kicked off a great rivalry. I look forward to seeing him at Sucker Brook.

In other CB news, Natalia Gardiol won the women's 3/4 race





and Nick Mashburn got second in the well attended men's cat 4 race. I think that 3 podiums in one day equals bringing the pain. So despite people's ribbing, my prediction proved correct. We brought the pain.

Also I partially announced the elite women's race as I recovered and ate. And I announced the men's elite race. I wasn't very good at it.




I feel like I would have been better if I had someone to converse with, like another announcer. Either way, I threw some stupid random heckles out at the pros. I have a new found respect for Dick Ring and Richard Fries.

I was happy with the race and with the venue. My only complaint would be to have only one 3/4 race instead of splitting us by age (Under 35 and 35+). While I realize that I wouldn't have podiumed in such a race, I really enjoy racing with my younger friends.

From Heckler to Announcer: Come Check it Out at Quad Cross This Sunday

As some of you know, I am one of most merciless hecklers in New England cyclocross. I am especially known for calling people out for sandbagging and coming up with creative taunts and comments to get a reaction from pinned riders.

Apparently my skills have been noticed. I will announcing at Quad 'Cross this Sunday

This morning, I got an email from Ian Sutton, the quiet promotor of Wednesday Night SuperPrestige, asking if I would be willing to help out with the race announcing. Obviously, this is my kind of thing, so I jumped at the chance.

Since my schedule is quite full currently, I will only be announcing the races right after my race, the elite women's and the elite men's races.

I may be lucky enough to be joined by fellow teachers, Matt Aumiller and Matt Miller, who have also agreed to help out.

It should be interesting to see if I am able to make the transition from mean and offensive heckler to family friendly race announcer.

Wanna Learn How to Glue Tubulars? I'll Teach You.

Here's the rub (see justification below): I am good at gluing tubular tires. I have glued many tires and I have never even come close to rolling one.

I am also a teacher by profession. For $100, I'll take your clean, new tires and clean, glue-free rims and prep them over two days and then teach you how to finish the job on the third day/night. The gluing lesson will take between 1 hour and 1.5 hours. You will leave with two securely and evenly glued tires and the knowledge that you need to do the job yourself in the future.

I will structure the lesson exactly how I would structure one of my classes at school: you will inspect examples of past work, hear about tubular gluing theory and practice and then see what you have learned applied directly to your tires. If you feel comfortable, you can glue your second tire with guidance after watching me glue your first.

I will provide all supplies, including Vittoria Mastik One tubular cement, acid brushes, painter's tape to protect the braking surface, plumber's tape for insuring that the valve extender/valve interface is airtight and any and all rags and solvents for clean up (including industrial strength citrus hand scrub).

All you need to provide is your wheels, free of all glue and glue residue (I'll wipe the rims with acetone before beginning my prep, but I will not remove glue) and a new set of tubular tires that have been properly stored and are stretching on your rims (these should be inflated to the highest manufacturer recommended pressure).

If you are interested in taking me up on this offer so that you can break free of paying others to do the job for you...hit me up. rmckittr at gmail dot com. If you just want your tubulars glued without a lesson, I could do two tires for $80.

Why I Decided to Offer This Service

I had to remove a tubular tire from a rim today. It took me over 1/2 an hour. I got blisters on my thumbs from pushing and pulling on the damn tire. Seriously, the tire was really stuck on there. Eventually, I was able to get a tire lever under the base tape. Still, I fought hard for every inch of tire that I removed.

During this excruciating and frustrating process, I realized something: I am really good at gluing tubular tires.

Over time, my method has evolved and improved. My ability to get the tire onto the rim "clean" has improved with every tire that I glue. The last set of tires that I glued is perfect. The glue is beaded up at the edges of the tire/rim interface, but not sloppy. You can pull on the tire with all of your strength at any point and the tire remains firmly in place, no peeling at all. The tire is seated perfectly and evenly.

I have also laid in a stash of the best tubular gluing supplies: cans of Vittoria Mastik One (google it, it is the best glue out there), acid brushes, strong solvents, plumbers tape, painter's tape (for protecting the brake surface from glue in the final mounting), a truing stand and blue nitrile gloves (though I now prefer to glue without wearing these).

Earlier in the road season, you may remember hearing about Gorgeous Gary Bavolar's terrible experiences with Wheelworks when he had them glue up his road tubulars (1, 2, 3, 4). I don't want anyone to be forced to ride on dubious tubulars. I glued Gary's first set of tubulars and that is why his standards were so high.

I never really understood bringing your tubulars to someone else to glue. You really, really need to trust the person gluing your tubs. Honestly, I just don't trust anyone more than I trust myself, therefore, I glue my own tires. If you feel the same way, then you should take me up on my offer before I get too busy and revoke it.

Cyclocross Wheel/Tire Selections for 2009.

I don't like to make excuses for poor performance. For instance there were a few mountain bike races that I didn't place well in. When asked about the race afterwards, I stated that I was happy with my performance despite my results. What I meant was that my equipment performed well, I evenly dosed my power output over the whole race and my bike handling was good. Results mean nothing if you rode the best race that you could and your equipment worked properly for the entire race, even when pushed.

At Blunt Park, I was forced to race on clinchers after discovering a flat in my only set of glued tubulars on the night before the race. Despite this curveball, my bike and my legs performed well and I handled my bike well. 4th place was nothing next to the feeling that I had put in good work to get the result. Palmer on the other hand saw my bike fail multiple times, which seriously irked me.

Last cyclocross season, I had two sets of tubulars, but lacked a real tire selection. After some races I felt like I would have performed better had I the luxury of different tires to select from.

I took this lesson to heart. I read articles. I did my due diligence and decided that I needed 4 wheelsets for cyclocross. One set of clinchers for training and 3 sets of tubulars for racing. I decided that my quiver should include a super supple 34 mm file tread, a robust, aggressive and durable 30 or 32 mm mud tire and an all-arounder, 32 or 34mm. I was not overly concerned with the quality level of the wheels, I was more focused on the tires.

I had two sets of tubulars already on hand, Reflex rims laced to 2006 Campagnolo Centaur hubs and a set of Easton EC90 Aero carbon tubs. I considered buying a set of Easton EA70 x tubs to round out the collection, but eventually settled on a set of 2006 Campagnolo Record hubs laced to vintage Campagnolo Omega semi-aero ceramic rims, which I procured on eBay. The new wheels are very pretty; you can fix your hair in your reflection off the hubs.

My next concern was matching the tires with the correct wheels. Conventional wisdom says that I should put the mud tires on the aero carbons in order to take advantage of their mud shedding abilities. Another school of thought said that I should put the all arounders on the lightweight aero rims, since I would use these wheels the most. In this case, I would get the competitive advantage of the carbon wheels in more races.

I decided on the following pairings:

1. Carbons with file tread
2. Mud tires on Centaurs
3. All arounders on Records

My logic is as follows: I put the file tread on the most expensive and most fragile wheels since I figure that these wheels will only be used on fast dry courses. I don't want to deliberately destroy my fancy wheels. The mud tires will see the most abuse so they are mounted on the most abused wheelset. The Centaur hubs are still smooth, but the rims are thrashed, so they are the perfect wheelset to misuse. The all arounders will see varied use. I am sure that they will get taken through the mud sometimes, but Record hubs are quite resistant to slop and are resilient. Also the ceramic rims offer great, predictable stopping in variable to sloppy conditions.

Oh, I have to go now. I have tires to glue...

Once they are all glued up, I will post pictures of the wheel/tubular tire quiver.

Product Review: Ritchey WCS Protocol Wheelset--Great Wheelset for the Money.

My initial impression of these wheels, before I owned them, was that they were flimsy. PVB had a set that he thrashed during a cross season and then on the road. Obviously with a wattage cottage like Pierre, who is known to destroy parts, the wheels gave up under the abuse (PVB later stated that he was happy with the wheels and admitted that they held up well under after he dogged them).

I got my set as part of a Record 10 UT grouppo August of 2007. I needed a set of cross clinchers, so I resigned myself to killing these instead of selling them and buying something more durable, such as Ksyriums.

First off, these wheels are light. They weigh in around 1500 grams, which puts them in the same weight category as Ksyriums and Easton EA90's. They are semi aero with bladed spokes and a low spoke count.

I have been using these wheels as my training clincher for the 2007 (season curtailed by injury) and 2008 cross season and race on them occasionally, for instance when my tubulars need regluing or the valve stem gets stuck in the extender.

The front wheel went out of true early on. I trued it once and it has remained true ever since. I attribute this to normal settling of a machine built wheel and don't hold it against the wheelset.

I have been riding/abusing these wheels in all the conditions that New England cyclocross throws at you and I have been very happy with their performance and durability. Seriously, I have crashed these, smashed them into blind ruts and roots, bottomed out the tire onto the rim countless times and they are still true and ride straight. I even take them on light mountain bike terrain without issue.

While the bearings were never as smooth as my Campagnolo hubs, they are smooth enough for daily usage. The hub speed has not degraded with time, which leads me to think that they are well sealed, considering the mud, ice and rain that these have been ridden through.

You may notice that I am not using the Ritchey quick releases with these wheels. "Why?" you ask. I like the Ritchey quick releases so much that I use them with my "A" wheels. 2008 I used them with my Zipps on road and then my Egde/DT Swiss wheelset for cross. Now I am using the Ritchey skewers with my Easton EC 90 Aeros.

I do have complaints. First, admittedly not a big complaint, the freehub pawls are loud. Seriously loud. Like these things interfere with normal conversation if you are coasting. Its reassuring that they are working well, but man are they loud.

Second, the decals on the rim are shoddy. They are more like stickers. They were applied poorly and have bubbles underneath them.




While this is not serious either, its just irritating. I would just peel the stickers off, but that would create work for me and I'd rather just leave them.

Overall, I am quite happy with these wheels. I plan on using them as my cross clinchers for the foreseeable future. Considering how well they are holding up, I have no reason to expect that these will need to be replaced any time soon.

As you may know, these are available quite inexpensively on eBay and on other internet sites. Also, Ritchey is making a tubular version of this wheelset, which I assume is of comparable quality. If I were on a tight budget and needed a reasonably light bargain wheelset, these (clincher or tubular) would be very high on my list.